Saturday, 7 June 2008

The Lives of Others (Das Leben Der Anderen) [2006]

The fact that this German film managed to defeat the mind-blowing Mexican movie Pan’s Labyrinth to the Best Foreign Film statuette at the most popular film awards ceremony was reason enough to compel me to watch this movie. It is another matter that I found The Lives of Others a film worthy of standing on its own even in a jungle of great movies. This is a very effective political thriller and an empathetic human drama that traces the controversial history of East Germany from its iron curtain heydays to the demise of Communism and after. The movie follows the activities of Stasi, the East-German secret police, through Captain Wiesler who is given the responsibility of spying on the life of a celebrated dramatist who is believed to be anything but a party loyalist, and his beautiful actress-wife. The events that follow have profound impact on the lives of the protagonists. A quiet but powerful work of art, the movie shows that humanity lies beyond the confines of narrow ideologies, and eloquently expresses that the most fundamental basis for human survival lies in man’s freedom of thought and expression.